Matt Davis Broker- MJDavisProperties.com

Matt@MJDavisProperties.com http://www.mjdavisproperties.com/

Mortgage Rates Sideways Ahead of Fed Announcement

Posted to: MND NewsWire  Mortgage News Daily
Mar 18 2014, 4:39PM

by Matthew Graham

Mortgage rates were effectively unchanged today, putting an end to 2 days spent moving higher as the threat of violence diminished in Ukraine.  Indeed it was violence in Ukraine (or rather, a Ukrainian Military Installation in Crimea) that enabled bond markets to improve today, thus preventing rates from rising further.  Some lenders increased costs just slightly while an equal amount went the other direction.  In both cases, today's latest rate sheets aren't that far off from yesterday's, though that wouldn't have been the case with this morning's rate sheets as many lenders improved mid-day to reach the 'unchanged' levels.  The most prevalently quoted conforming 30yr Fixed for the best-qualified borrowers remains at 4.5% for some lenders, though at least as many are still offering 4.375%.

The balancing act between Ukraine and more normal sources of market movement continues to cause volatility for markets in general.  The effects on mortgage rates have been better-enabled by the relative absence of significant domestic economic data.  Complicating matters further, the only time that geopolitical risk wasn't having an obvious effect on rates, just happened to coincide with the only recent significant data earlier this month with the Employment report on March 7th.
That employment data made for a convincing head-fake toward higher rates and renewed geopolitical risk brought rates back down in the following week.  The point is that significant domestic data hasn't really had to compete with geopolitical risk for the same stage.  They've been taking turns, as it were. 
The first good chance for this to change arrives tomorrow.  There's no way to be sure it WILL change, but tomorrow's Fed policy announcement always has the potential to move markets, and it comes one day after news of gunfire and wounded Ukrainian military at an army base in Crimea.  It's hard to imagine Ukraine-related headlines will simply take the day off tomorrow.  The Fed certainly won't.

Click to view full article:
Mortgage Rates Sideways Ahead of Fed Announcement

Matt Davis Broker- MJDavisProperties.com

Matt@MJDavisProperties.com http://www.mjdavisproperties.com/

Seventh Straight Month of Lower Home Sales in California

Posted to: MND NewsWire
Monday, March 17, 2014 3:24 PM

Closed sales of existing single-family homes slipped again in February, marking the seventh straight month of declining activity. The California Association of Realtors® (C.A.R.) said that sales of existing homes during the month were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 361,210 units.  This was a 0.7 percent dip from the January rate of 363,930 units.  It was the fourth month that existing home sales were under 400,000 and the rate was 13.7 percent below the rate of 418,520 homes in February 2013.
"The slower sales in February reflects diminished housing affordability after three years of solid price increases and interest rates that are nearly a full percentage point higher than a year ago," said C.A.R. President Kevin Brown.  "With the interest rate difference alone, home buyers this year would have to pay $150 more per month on their mortgage payment than last year, a substantial amount for many would-be home buyers trying to get into the market."
Virtually every country reporting to C.A.R. posted year-over-year declines in sales.  Increases were noted in Contra Costa Country (+22 percent) and San Francisco Country (+14.9 percent) and sales in the small counties of Madera and Amador were also up.
Inventories improved in February with a 4.7 month supply of existing single-family homes available for sale compared to 4.3 months in January and 3.6 months in February 2013.  C.A.R.'s Unsold Inventory Index reflects both the number of homes on the market and the current sales rate. A six- to seven-month supply is considered typical in a normal market.
With declining sales and increasing inventories the statewide median price of an existing, single-family detached home retreated 1.6 percent from January's median price of $410,990 to $404,250.  February's price was 21.3 percent higher than a year earlier marking two full years of consecutive year-over-year price increases and the 20th straight month of double-digit annual gains, as higher priced homes made up a larger share of the market compared to a year ago. 



"Supply conditions in the housing market have shown some improvement since the end of last year, except for the lowest price range where the inventory for distressed properties is depleted.  In the mid-priced range of $300,000-$750,000, which covers nearly half of all home sales, inventory is up 27 percent, while the supply of high-end homes - properties priced at or above $1 million, also is up 13 percent from a year ago," said C.A.R. Vice President and Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young.  "The improvement in these prime price ranges will benefit trade-up buyers who are expected to dominate the market in 2014, as many of them will be searching for homes in these price categories."
The median number of marketing days for a single-family home fell to 40 days from 44.3 days in January but remained higher than the 34.3 days it took to sell a home in February 2013.
Sales and price data are generated by C.A.R. from a survey of more than 90 Realtor associations throughout the state. 

View Article: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/03172014_california_real_estate.asp